As the population of virtual universes (VUs) increases, and as the density and intensity of personal activities and commercial transactions increase, greater emphasis will be placed on advertising. Just as in the real world, innovative and intrusive advertising activities will be launched and widely distributed. Unlike the real world, advertising in VUs is much less constrained by the limiting laws of physics and economics. Surprising new advertising campaigns and mechanisms may be deployed. One advertising mechanism marries unsolicited personal messaging (“spam”) with the concept of automated computer controlled advertising avatars that roam around the VU looking to communicate with potential human avatars.
In some systems, advertisement avatars are automated. However, automated avatars can create problems within a VU if abused, much the same as spam email can cause problems in an email communication system, a.k.a., “avatar-based VU spam”.
Avatar-based VU spam has the potential to literally impede or block a user's motion in a VU. Avatar-based VU spam has the potential to impede lifelike transactions (e.g., business, romance). Avatar-based VU spam has the potential to devalue a user's virtual property. Avatar-based VU spam has the potential to make the VU run so slowly as to make it unusable (due to the CPU's need to run the spam avatars). Avatar-based VU spam has the potential to block the avatar's line of sight.
It could be, however, that the spam avatar has been misidentified and that the owner of the avatar may not even know that its avatar has been so identified. There may be a need to notify the owner that the avatar has been identified as a spam avatar, maybe based on a distinguishing mark on the avatar, and allow the avatar owner to make changes to the avatar so that the avatar is no longer identified as a spam avatar.
Therefore, there exists a need for a solution that solves at least one of the deficiencies of the related art.